6. Purple Cloth
They had arrived in a tavern-like building on the edge of the slum area. Aether met a few people on her way here and inquired about the whereabouts of the crazy boy. With his unique outfits, it was easy for others to remember him. And with a few candy gifts called coins or money, it was easy to get information from the people he met.
Aether also let the elf girl ask her question about the whereabouts of her thief. and both ended up in this old Rom's loot house.
It was an awkward situation for the elf girl. She accused Aether two times in a row, but he didn't let her apologize and wasn't angry at her. He even helped her gather the information she needed. On the way here, he also didn't say more than necessary. She herself also didn't know how to start a conversation. Each time she tried to do so, Aether pushed it away and stopped the conversation as briefly as possible, like he was in a hurry. She also didn't understand how in hell the person he was looking for was in the same place as her thief. The only conclusion she could come to was that someone was working with her thief. However, she didn't want to make a mistake and accused Aether for the third time. So, in the end, there's nothing she can do.
Now that they had arrived, the elf girl could only sigh inwardly and focus on the reason she was here. "I'll settle this later," she thought.
*knock *knock
She knocked on the door.
Aether saw the elf girl knock on the door.
(According to the plan) he thought. With her guilty conscience on him and Aether having already informed her of his legitimate reason and objective, No matter how suspicious it is, she is unable to do a thing. The elf girl is unable to ask anything about the reason Aether was here or why the person he's looking for was here. If the few people he spoke with were telling the truth, then the crazy boy was indeed inside this building,
Following that,
"Don't open it!" Aether and the elf girl heard a shout from inside the building. "We'll be killed!"
After hearing the elf girl frown slightly, the door was opened. The elf girl took a step forward.
"Killing? " "I wouldn't do something so terrifying." She entered the building. Aether also followed behind her,
Aether quickly scanned the inside of the building. He's really here. The elf girl had a special connection with the crazy boy.
"I'm glad you've come." As she stared at the young girl with blonde hair and a red scarf, the elf girl said, "You won't get away this time."
Aether also knew her from the previous run, so he also knew she was the one who stole the elf girl's belongings.
"You're really persistent, girl!" The thief replied annoyedly, "Why don't you just give up?" She took a few steps back, keeping a safe distance from the elf girl.
"Sorry, but this isn't something I can give up on," the elf girl said calmly. "Surrender quietly, and I won't hurt you." Then, simultaneously, six sharp arrows-like crystals made of ice appeared around the elf girl. He was half pointing at the thief and half pointing at the crazy boy and a big old man. "I only have one demand: return my insignia," she stated. "It's very important to me."
At this point, Aether, who was watching from the sidelines, whispered to Paimon, "Is this magic too?"
"No," Paimon shook her head cutely, "it's spirit arts, which are different from magic."
Aether was confused by her answer, "What's the difference?" From his point of view, it's all the same.
Paimon went on to say, "Magic used one's own mana, whereas spirit arts used the mana in the environment. In Teyvat's knowledge, it would be equivalent to using an elemental burst without absorbing elemental energy into one's body, and using it directly."
Aether couldn't help but exclaim, "Isn't that like cheating?" Also, it's like spitting in the faces of all magic users. Aether said, "By the way, can I do the same?" Aether looked at his companion, his partner, who was supposed to be his contracted spirit.
prior to Paimon saying anything. "Yeah, it was a foolish question of mine; let's say I didn't ask anything," Aether said to himself.
"Hey!?" Paimon shouted peevishly, "What do you mean by that!?"
On the other hand, "I wouldn't back down if she was just another magic user, but this one is trouble," the old man behind the counter said as he watched the floating ice arrows.
"What's with you, old man Rom!?" The thief was disappointed and disagreed with the old man's comment, "You're going to admit losing before the fight?"
"Little Miss, you're an elf, right?" The old man said
"Haa~" "That's not correct; only half of me is an elf," the elf girl sighed.
At that moment, "Half-elf?" The thief responded, "And silver hair?" She became more and more terrified with each word. "Wait, are you--?"
The elf girl quickly cut off her words: "It's a different person!" "I just look alike, and that also causes me nothing but trouble!"
"Bro, you tricked me!" This time, the thief turned to the crazy boy.
Met with an unexpected response, the crazy boy was astounded. "Huh?" I'm not-"
"I know something is up! When you said, "Give it back to the owner!"
"What do you mean?" "Aren't you two in cahoots?" said the elf girl. At this point, the elf girl took a closer look at the boy in the strange outfit. (Wait, isn't he the one that guy is looking for?) the elf girl thought, then he took a quick glance at Aether beside her. She's hesitating about whether to beware of Aether too or not.
In the end, she pushed it onto the corner of her head. Without concrete facts, she wouldn't accuse him again.
Then suddenly, the crazy boy laughed to himself.
"You see!?" Paimon screamed at that point, "He's crazy!" to suddenly laugh at this moment! "Come on, Aether, we need to get away from him as soon as possible."
"Come on, the jig's up." "Just return her insignia, Felt," the crazy boy suggested. Then he was stunned to see Aether but quickly ignored him, saying, "Sa-, you hurry up and get out of here," to the elf girl. "Try not to let anyone steal it again."
"Why are you being so nice all of a sudden?" The elf girl was confused again but didn't let her guard down around them. "I don't understand at all."
"I'm the same," the thief agreed. "What's with you!?"
"See!!" Paimon once again shouted, "He's crazy! He's crazy!" Only Aether could hear her. Only Aether showed a wry smile.
However, at this moment, Aether felt a bloodlust behind him; his experience wasn't for show; he was sensitive to anything that was trying to harm him.
A dull blade, the only sword that he could take out of his inventory, now appeared on his hand.
"Puck! Shield it!!" The boy suddenly shouted. Paimon once again felt that he was crazy.
*Bang *screech
The voices of Blade and Blade rang all around the room.
It was Aether with his sword blocking two knives, one aimed at him and another at the elf girl; behind his sword, a shield made of ice also appeared.
Once it was blocked, the preparator instantly jumped away from the rest. Then Puck appeared from under the elf girl's hair. "Thank you for that," he said toward Aether.
Aether nodded a bit and kept watching the preparator.
It was a woman in her early twenties. with long, wavy black hair and purple eyes. She also had a beauty spot below her left eye. She appeared to be calm and gentle. Her body was the materialization of sexiness itself; every move she made was sexy and attractive.
However, Aether could feel the bloodlust behind that beautiful appearance. the ugliness hidden beneath that skin.
"It's a spirit, a spirit.""How wonderful," the preparator said cheerfully, "I've never split open a spirit's stomach before."
"Oi, what do you mean by this?" The thief asked the preparator, the only one in this place who recognized him.
"We can hardly negotiate if you bring the owner here," the preparator said. "That's why there's a slight change of plan; I shall slaughter everyone here." She showed her sharp knives to everyone. "And you failed to fulfill your job; you only talk, but you do terrible work."
"In the end, you're just another slum dweller."
The thief was irritated but unable to respond to her words.
"You bitch… Cut the crap! Are you happy picking on a little kid? You guts-loving sadist! Felt is doing her best to live strong! And here you are flipping tables just because your plan was thrown off a bit! Are you a brat? You should value life more!"
"Do you know how much it hurts to have your belly sliced open!?"
"Well, I do!"
"What are you talking about?" At the same time, the preparator said Aether also thought the same. (This is bad; I also started to think he was crazy!)
"I'm letting the sense of justice and chivalry I never knew I had denounce the world's unfairness! You are the world's injustice to me! There, I'm done buying time! The crazy boy said, "Get her puck!"
The next second, innumerable small arrows appeared in the air. "... I'll better not let you down!" Puck replied.
Puck spoke to the crazy boy, but Aether was distracted by his performance (Did he really do that to buy time?). It was unexplainable to Aether for the crazy boy to act smart like this.
"My name's Puck!" "Just take my name with you... to your grave!" Then all of the small ice arrows darted toward the preparator.
It resulted in the preparator being encased in an ice cube, and when her sweet and alluring voice echoed, they knew it wasn't over. The block of ice was broken and disappeared along with the cape worn by the preparator.
Without wasting any time, the preparator dashed toward the elf girl. which was easily guarded by her.
On the other hand, Puck also sends his ice arrows toward the girl, one after another. While Aether is still standing still with a wait-and-see approach to this situation, at the end of the day, he was an outsider.
Puck attacked, and the preparator evaded and defended it for quite a while; at the same time, they also made some small talk and jabs, showing that both still had some leeway.
However, Aether knew it would last for a long time, especially after he knew Puck had a timer on his side.
Then, as if to cap it all, the preparator's feet became trapped in ice after being guided by rapid fire from the puck."I wasn't just randomly littering those around," he said.
"Oh, have I been played?" The trapped preparator still calmly replied, even in her situation.
"Good night!" Puck shouted. from both of the elf girl's hands. A huge pillar of ice appeared and shot toward the preparator.
But it wasn't the end; the preparator successfully evaded that attack at the last second.
When everyone saw her condition—to be exact, her bloody feet—they understood how she could escape that "My, how lovely... "I thought I was going to die," she said sexily.
"It hurts!!!!" Paimon, on the other hand, screamed simply by looking at her; the imagined pain she felt from looking at her was enough to scare the snot out of him. Paimon instantly closed her eyes and turned away from the preparator.
"Just hide; I'll call you when we're done," Aether said, which Paimon quickly followed.
After Aether watched Paimon hide herself, he turned back toward the others (it was time), he thought, and Puck disappeared like a bubble and was absorbed into the elf girl's necklace. "Thank you," the elf girl said, expressing her gratitude toward Puck at the last second.
On the other hand, the preparator sliced a piece of ice to stop the bleeding from her feet and act as a shoe for her. "He's leaving? "That is very unfortunate," she said. Then she dashed toward the elf girl once again.
Unlike before, when Puck was still there, the elf girl had her hands full defending against her attack. Her speed was too much for her. She was kicked behind the counter.
Then, Like the other three, Aether also thought it was time for him to move. He's done analyzing the preparator. She was quick and agile, but she lacked strength. That is, losing her sharp weapon could significantly reduce her strength and danger.
She wasn't too weak, but she also wasn't too strong. It was the perfect chance for Aether to test his new power.
Then, when the old man with the big club almost got butchered by the preparator, Aether made his move and blocked it.
"Ara, unlike those two who were helpless, I'm curious why you've remained silent until now," the preparator asked, her gaze fixed on Aether.She remembered him stopping her sneak attack.
Aether also took a quick glance toward the two, who were clearly made silly by this situation. He could see the thief sigh in relief when the old man was saved.
"Well, I do have my own circumstances," Aether replied, switching his thoughts to Satou Kazuma's adventure, which he remembered he had the perfect ability for.
The dull blade in his hand vanished the next moment before the preparator could dash toward her, and blinding lights spread simultaneously: "Steal!" Aether shouted.
The preparator jumped back to avoid and defend against Aether, but it was too late.
Steal: Steals an item from the opponent. Higher luck results in a more valuable item being stolen.
It was one of adventurer Satou Kazuma's abilities.
When the lights disappeared, Aether found something in his hand. However, it was different than what he expected; instead of the cold and hard knives the preparator had, it was soft and warm.
Aether opened his hands to see what he had. He then noticed a triangle-shaped cloth.
"..." Aether was speechless. Purple cloth—at a glance, you could see how sexy it was. Aether sneaks a glance at the owner of this cloth. She also checked her body for the thing she lost.
Aether really didn't know what to do with this. Then it happened in his confused state. An irresistible, incredible urge surged up from inside him. He didn't know where it came from, but it was unstoppable.
"Kgh!" Aether did his best to hold it, but it was useless. Then, slowly but steadily, he opened the cloth, pants in hand, wide. and pick it up above his head before swinging it around in a circling motion.
"Ja… JACKPOT!!! HYAAAHAAA!!!" Aether yelled frost the whole world.